Fore-body Optimisation and Bulbous Bow

Fore-body optimization includes consideration of the bulb design, waterline entrance and so on. The reason is that when a ship sails, the fore-body generates waves. These waves then hit the front side and increase the ship resistance and thus required power. The faster the ship sails, the more is the wave making resistance and the more energy it needs to overcome the waves. A properly designed bulbous bow thus reduces wave resistance by producing its own wave system that is out of phase with the bow wave from the hull, creating a cancelling effect and overall reduction in wave making resistance (MariEMS 2017).


Figure 33: Concept of bow waves and bulb waves (MariEMS 2017).